Nearest crosswalk was 1/4 mile away

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A 55-year-old man was struck and killed by a school bus Thursday morning in Gaithersburg.

George Pezdirtz III, of the 900 block of Clopper Road, was crossing Clopper Road just east of Metropolitan Grove Road around 6:30 a.m. when he was hit by a Montgomery County school bus.

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The school bus driver isn't likely to face charges. No students were on the school bus at the time of the crash.

Authorities said Pezdirtz wasn't using the crosswalk.

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News4's Tony Tull reports that he saw several people illegally crossing the street to get to and from a bus stop on Clopper Road in the aftermath of the crash -- because the nearest crosswalk is approximately a quarter-mile away.

However, it's unknown whether the victim was going to or from the bus stop at the time of the crash, Tull said.

Thursday's incident is the latest in a rash of recent pedestrian accidents in the area, several of them fatal.

Paul Starks of the Montgomery County Police offered advice on keeping safe: "Early in the morning, late at night, high noon: You've got to look both ways," he said.

"You've got to be engaged in what you're doing. If you're talking with a friend in person or on a phone, or you're listening to an iPod with the ear buds in, take the things out of your ears, put the phone down, stop talking with your friend [and] look both ways, a couple of times," he said.

The victim's identity has not yet been released.

Clopper Road was closed in both directions for several hours as police investigated the crash.